


gimmie the news (i got a bad case of loving you)

by bicroft



Series: SidGeno Tumblr Prompts [8]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-22
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-03 12:32:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10967313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bicroft/pseuds/bicroft
Summary: Zhenya liked to think he wasn’t accident prone, but, his luck for the past several months seemed to be proving him wrong.Or, he thought as he stared up at the paramedic who was fussing over him, he might just be the luckiest guy in the world.





	gimmie the news (i got a bad case of loving you)

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous asked for: "sidgeno where geno always gets injured or is in accidents and sid is the concerned paramedic/doctor that somehow is always around to treat him" 
> 
>  
> 
> title very obviously taken from robert palmer's "bad case of loving you", because i'm a fuckin. nerd. cross posted from tumblr @sidsknee, if you wanna drop me some more prompts!

Zhenya liked to think he wasn’t accident prone, but, his luck for the past several months seemed to be proving him wrong.

 _Or,_ he thought as he stared up at the paramedic who was fussing over him, he might just be the luckiest guy in the world.

“We need stop running into each other like this,” he said, grinning dopily as the very, very cute paramedic checked his blood pressure. The man narrowed his eyes at him, but, Zhenya thought he saw a laugh behind his serious demeanor. Or, maybe he was just concussed; everything was a coin toss today.

“By which you mean _you_ need to stop getting in trouble.” the paramedic said, pointing at him accusingly as he took the cuff off of Zhenya’s arm and typed something into his computer.

“Not like I’m do on _purpose_.” Zhenya said defensively- and, really, he didn’t; he just had really, really good-or-bad luck, as of late.

The first time he’d met Cute Paramedic had been a little under two months ago, after he’d gotten into a not at all bad car accident; he’d only had a few cuts and bruises, and he really, really thought they were worth it, considering the fact that he got to watch the most beautiful ass in the world bend down to root through drawers in uniform pants that were just a little too tight. Really, after that night, he had a new appreciation for the medical profession.

Then, not even a full two weeks later, he’d gotten himself nudged by a car in a parking lot. _That_ had been pretty bad but, again, Cute Paramedic had come to his rescue, and Zhenya had started to think that the man was his guardian angel or something.

Now, the third time they’d run into one another, after Zhenya had gotten into another car accident- not in his own car this time, thank god- he was _definitely_ starting to think there was some agent of fate pushing them together.

Cute Paramedic seemed less happy about all this than Zhenya did, though. “You still need to be more careful,” he murmured, shining a penlight in both of Zhenya’s eye. Zhenya blinked away the colored that flashed in front of his vision, but for a second, it looked like Cute Paramedic had a halo. Definitely accurate.

“Being most careful,” Zhenya huffed. “Careful is middle name.”

“According to your paperwork, your middle name is Vladimirovich,” Cute Paramedic said dryly, but there was a _definite_ smile behind his eyes this time, Zhenya could tell. He grinned at him.

“Everything checks out; you seem fine, other than come superficial bruises.” Cute Paramedic cleared his throat and blushed, turning away when he caught Zhenya’s gaze. “I’ve gotta say, Mr. Malkin, you’ve got to be one of the luckiest guys I’ve ever treated.”

“Yes, very luck.” Zhenya said. “Have guardian angel, he’s watch me.”

Cute Paramedic laughed- god, even his _laugh_ was cute; giggly and just on the edge of nervous. Zhenya was _fucked_. “He must be a busy guy- er, angel.”

“He is.” Zhenya said. “Best angel. Only problem is, not know his name.”

Cute Paramedic frowned for a second before he realized Zhenya must be talking about _him_ , and then he blushed again. “Uh,” he said, and then cleared his throat a few times before schooling his features into something more neutral. “Sidney. My name’s Sidney.”

“Sidney.” Zhenya echoed. “Sidney, best angel.”

“I’m just doing my job, really.” Sidney’s carefully schooled features broke down into a small smile, blush working its way down his neck and past the collar of his shirt. Oh, how Zhenya wanted to follow the that trail with his mouth.

“Best at job.” he assured Sidney, and Sidney just giggled again.

“ _Zhenya_.” There was banging on the ambulance door. Sasha was standing there, looking disgruntled but otherwise okay; he’d been driving the car when they’d been rear ended, so, he was probably mostly just pissed that the bumper of his car was fucked up. “Come on, Nicky agreed to give us ride home; not polite to make people wait.”

Zhenya glared at him, but sighed. “Okay to go?” he asked Sidney.

Sidney looked a little reluctant, and Zhenya hoped that maybe that wasn’t for entirely professional medical reasons. “Yeah,” he said eventually. “You’re good to go, just… be more careful, Mr. Malkin.”

“Call me Zhenya.” Zhenya said quickly, before he could think better of it. He saw Sasha’s eyes go gleefully wide in his periphery, and he knew he was going to regret this once he got away, but for now, he just decided to enjoy the way Sidney’s face lit up.

“Be careful then, Zhenya.” Sidney’s obviously Canadian accent didn’t really fit around Zhenya’s name very well, but, Zhenya thought that it was maybe the prettiest thing he’d ever heard anyway.

“Will do.” Zhenya waved to him as he jumped down from the ambulance, sparing one last look over his shoulder as he walked away.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Sasha threw his arm around his shoulder, and Zhenya immediately tensed in preparation for the oncoming chirps. “So,” Sasha drawled, faux casualness dripping from his voice. “Either you’re throwing out nicknames to any stranger you meet, _or,_ you have a crush on doctor.”

“I don’t have a crush on a doctor.” Zhenya said, trying to duck Sasha’s arm and the question.

Sasha wasn’t letting him get away that easy, though. “You have a crush on _that_ doctor.”

“He’s not doctor, I’m not think.” Zhenya said, and that must have been just as good as any admission, because Sasha crowed.

“It’s like Grey’s Anatomy!” he said, cackling. Zhenya flushed, and really, really regretted letting Sasha mooch off of his Netflix account.

“Is _not_.” he muttered, but it was no use protesting. Sasha was like a dog with a bone with things like this.

Luckily, once they got to where Sasha’s boyfriend was parked, looking nervous and worried, Zhenya was all but forgotten. He tried to resist the urge to pull a face as Sasha plastered himself all over Nicky; they were a grossly cute couple, though most of the _gross_ was just on Sasha’s part.

Zhenya was dropped off alone at his apartment, and was definitely grateful to get out of the car just as Sasha put his hand far higher on Nicky’s thigh than was probably safe for someone who was driving. _God,_ he hated having to be the bitter single.

He heard angry mewling when he got inside, and immediately almost had to call 911 again when Dixi wrapped herself around his feet and started complaining. “At least someone cares,” he said, sighing a little as he picked her up. “You care about me, yes?”

Dixi let out another long, annoyed mewl, which probably meant something close to ‘you’re late, feed me’, but Zhenya chose to take it as a ‘yes, I love you’, too. “Best cat.” he said, smiling at her before he set her back down, and actually fed her so that she didn’t eat him in his sleep.

He couldn’t help but think about how quiet his apartment was, as he made himself some food, and he and Dixi both settled onto the couch for the evening. He could hear the sounds of the city outside easily. Cars were bustling, people were moving- and somewhere, in the distance, the siren of an ambulance wailed.

Zhenya wondered if it was Sidney, off to save another life.

He sighed, shaking the thought from his head as he turned on the television and cranked the volume. His neighbors would complain, but Zhenya had to hear them have sex, so they could deal with it.

Thankfully, Sasha wasn’t around to chirp him any more than he already had when Zhenya finally settled on Grey’s Anatomy. It didn’t mean anything, anyway.  


* * *

“I thought I told you to be _careful_.” Sidney said, dabbing antiseptic onto a cut over Zhenya’s eye. Zhenya hissed.

“And I’m tell you, not my _fault_.” Zhenya said, almost whining. It hadn’t be another car accident, thank god, but Zhenya had taken a tumble on the ice during open skate at the arena he liked to go to and ended up just barely taking a skate to the face. It hadn’t been a big _deal_ ; the cut wasn’t really even close to his eye, but there had been a lot of blood, and the owner had _insisted_ on calling 911.

From outside the open doors of the ambulance, Zhenya could see Sasha staring at him, and laughing. He needed new friends.

“I take back what I said last time,” Sidney said, getting up and stretching to pull down a box of bandages. Zhenya watched as his uniform pants strained, and a sliver of Sidney’s back was exposed where his shirt had come untucked, but dutifully pretended he’d been staring off into the distance the whole time when Sidney turned around. “You’re definitely one of the _un_ luckiest guys I’ve ever met. What’s this, four accidents in two months?”

“Maybe,” Zhenya muttered, and Sidney laughed.

“I’m starting to think I should maybe just give you my number, save the switchboard the trouble.” Sidney mused as he started unpeeling the band aid. Zhenya’s breath hitched.

“Would definitely save time,” he said, trying not to sound as breathless as he was. “Very good idea.”

Sidney laughed. “I’m full of those.”

Sid leaned in to put the band aid over the cut, and Zhenya’s nose was almost pressed into his throat and, _god_ , it would be so, so easy to kiss him- because kissing a _paramedic_ while he’s _on duty_ wouldn’t be weird. Zhenya shook the thought from his mind, frowning at himself. _Stupid_.

“You’re good to go.” Sidney said, really drawing Zhenya out of his spiral of self-loathing and longing. Zhenya gave him what he hoped was a winsome smile.

“Best guardian angel, again,” he said, just so that he could hear Sidney laugh again, and see him blush.

“And here’s to hoping I get to take a few months off, eh?” Sidney said, pulling gloves off of his hands and dropping them into a little trash can. “Stay out of trouble, Zhenya, would you? I’m thinking about using some of my vacation days, and I’d hate for someone else to have to put up with you.”

“I’m _best_ patient.” Zhenya said, mock offended, and Sidney started laughing so hard he delved into honking territory. “I _am_!” Zhenya insisted.

“You sure are.” Sidney said, a little patronizing. Zhenya pouted, and Sidney’s expression softened into a more genuine smile. “You’re definitely the highlight of my day, usually.”

It was Zhenya’s turn to flush, now. “Mine, too,” he admitted, once again unable to keep his mouth from running away without his permission. “Even if see you always means I’m have to get hurt.”

Sidney rolled his eyes, but, he’s still smiling. “I keep _telling_ you to be careful.”

“Will be, next time,” Zhenya promised.

“Good,” Sidney said, patting Zhenya on the shoulder. “I… I don’t think that’s gonna scar; it was mostly superficial, so… you’re good to go.”

“Oh,” Zhenya said, trying not to sound disappointed. Who was disappointed when they heard they weren’t seriously injured. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Sidney said. He was smiling, still, but there was something a little sad behind it now. “I’ll- well. I _hope_ I won’t see you later, but…”

“With my luck, probably see me later.” Zhenya said, plastering a grin on his face and winking as he got out of the ambulance, again, just to see Sidney smile.

“This is like the best rom-com,” Sasha said as Zhenya walked back up to the rink. He tossed his skate bag at him, and Zhenya had just enough time to catch it before it hit him in the face, and he’d have had to call Sidney back over. _Not the worst idea_. “You two are obviously meant for each other.”

“He puts band aid on my face, Sasha,” Zhenya deadpanned, shouldering his bag and using all his willpower not to turn back at look at Sidney again. “Not like he ask me on date.”

“You should ask _him_ on a date.” Sasha said, nudging him with his elbow as they walked to Zhenya’s newly repaired car.

“ _How_?” Zhenya asked, a little desperate, because he _wanted_ to, but when was a good time? When he was bleeding and sitting in the back of Sidney’s ambulance surely wasn’t.

“With your words, Zhenya, _duh_ ,” Sasha snorted, as if it were that easy. Zhenya glared at him before he dug his car keys out of his bag.

“He’s just being nice, doing his job.” he said, mostly to himself as he got in the car and made a big deal of adjusting his seat, even though it was already in the position he needed it to be, really. “Not mean he want to date me.”

“I bet he does,” Sasha said, with a degree of surety he surely didn’t deserve to have. “I’m a love expert, trust me.”

“Love expert?” Zhenya snorted. “Sasha, you ask make puppy eyes at Nicky for two months, and then down three flights of stairs trying to ask him out.”

“And he said _yes_ ,” Sasha said. “And now, we in love. You just need to take more risks, Zhenya; can’t always be playing it safe when it comes to romance.”

“You’re crazy.” Zhenya said, starting the car and pulling out of the parking lot.

He kept the thought in mind as he dropped Sasha off and drove home, though, and it wouldn’t leave him alone. Sasha was right, probably; Zhenya hadn’t had a date in _months_ , and as much as he wanted to say that that wasn’t for a lack of trying, he hadn’t really put himself out there as much as he used to. Maybe he _did_ just need to take some risks- if not with Sidney, then just in general.

“You think I play too safe?” he asked Dixi, brow furred. Dixi yawned, and he took that as a ‘yes’. He sighed.

“You right,” he said, scratching her behind her ears until she purred in a tone that definitely meant ‘hell yeah I am.’ “I’m be more adventurous, from now on.”

Dixi kept purring like a motor as he flipped on his TV, and started back on his Grey’s Anatomy binging. He’d forget about Sidney tomorrow, and focus on someone more realistic- but, for now, he’d let himself indulge in his fantasies.

* * *

Zhenya hated Sasha. Zhenya hated Sasha, and his stupid fucking pep talk about being more spontaneous, and putting himself out there, and he _totally_ blamed him for everything happening right now.

“It’s definitely at least sprained,” the paramedic who was Definitely Not Sidney said, grimacing a little.

“ _Perfect_ ,” Zhenya griped, trying not to move his wrist too much. He’d hurt himself trying to do some kind of stupid rock climbing social thing, and he didn’t even get a visit from Sidney out of it; truly, this was the worst day possible.

Not Sidney grimaced again, and leaned forward to close the doors of the ambulance. “We’re going to have to take you to the ER, to actually fix this.” he said, knocking on the wall that separated the back of the ambulance from the driver. “Can I get your name, sir?”

“Evgeni Malkin,” Zhenya sighed.

For some reason, Not Sidney’s eyes widened, and he grinned. “Can you spell that?”

Zhenya did, and the whole time he was typing in Zhenya’s name, the man just kept grinning. There was something a little dangerous about his smile- puckish. It reminded Zhenya of Sasha, and not in a good way. “Found you in the system,” the guy said, obviously trying to act as casual as possible. “You’re kind of a frequent flyer.”

“Bad luck,” Zhenya said, eyes narrowing. “Why you’re care?”

“You wouldn’t happen to be called Zhenya, would you?” Not Sidney asked, and Zhenya’s eyes narrowed even more as he nodded. “Oh _hell_ yes- Tanger! Tanger, we got Sidney’s boyfriend back here!”

“Holy shit!” the ambulance driver- Tanger, apparently- called back. “No fuckin’ way.”

“Not boyfriend,” Zhenya choked out, sure his face was beet red. Not Sidney just grinned back at him with way too many teeth.

“He _wishes_ you were,” he said. “Talks about you- or, well. Only vaguely; how cute you are, how funny, how much he _wishes_ he wasn’t always on duty when he met you.”

“Really?” Zhenya asked, gaping at little. Not Sidney just nodded.

“You should hear it, honestly- it’s cute, if a little said,” he said. “It’s super nice to finally meet you, man; call me Flower, everyone does.”

“Evgeni,” Zhenya said, a little dazed because _Sidney talked about him to his friends!_ “Nice to meet you, too. I’d shake hand, but.”

“Yeah, no, don’t move that.” Flower said, suddenly serious. “Do you have anyone you want us to call- emergency contact, anything like that? You’ve got an Alexander Ovechkin listed on your-”

“ _No_ ,” Zhenya said quickly, with feeling. If they called Sasha, he’d never hear the end of it. “I’m good, find alone.”

“Your choice, man.” Flower said, shrugging.

He talked a little more with Flower as they rode to the hospital; apparently, he and Tanger both had wives and kids, and had been friends with Sidney since they’d all started working for the hospital, only a year or so apart from one another. Zhenya couldn’t help but feeling like this was a preemptive shovel talk, with the dangerous glint in Flower’s eye as he talked about how much Sidney meant to him and Tanger both, but he didn’t bother protesting that _really,_ he and Sidney weren’t dating. He didn’t think that’d go over well.

He didn’t have to wait long to be seen and taken care of, which he didn’t think was typical of an emergency room, but, he was grateful for it anyway. He was just waiting on the last of the paperwork to be brought to him, arm already a cast, when the door to his room opened, and he was greeted with the sight of a distressed looking Sidney.

He wasn’t in uniform, Zhenya noticed as he walked over, which meant he’d either caught Sidney on one of his days off, or just as he was about to leave. “Flower told me they’d picked you up,” Sidney said, sounding worried, crouching down to look at Zhenya’s arm. “Sprain?”

“Sprain,” Zhenya echoed, a little distantly. He was too busy feeling warm and giddy about Sidney coming to check on him to think about his wrist- also, they’d given him some pretty decent pain meds. “Is no big deal.”

“I thought I told you to be _careful_ ,” Sidney said, sighing. “You’re going to be the death of me, Zhenya, honestly.”

“I’m make it up to you,” Zhenya said, using his other uninjured hand to cup Sid’s cheek, and tilt his chin up until he was looking at Zhenya’s face. “Take you to dinner, next time you’re free, wherever you want.”

“Oh,” Sidney said- breathed, really, and Zhenya was a little smug about the fact that _he_ wasn’t the breathless one, this time. “I… I’d like that, a lot.”

“Good,” Zhenya said, letting out a sigh of relief. “Because, if you’re say no, I’m think I cry a little.”

“You’re fucking _absurd_ ,” Sidney said, laughing, and Zhenya was laughing too, right up until the second Sidney kissed him.

They were both grinning when they pulled away, and Sidney went bright red when someone cleared their throat and knocked on the door.

“Just a few more things for you to sign, Mr. Malkin,” one of the nurses- who had introduced herself as Amanda- said. “Afternoon, Sid. Thought you had the day off?”

“I, uh, did,” Sidney said, stepping back and clearing his throat.

“Seems like you’ve had a good day, then,” Amanda said, giving Sid a knowing look as she walked over to Zhenya, and pointed at a few lines. “Sign here and here, please.”

Sid hummed noncommittally smiling at Zhenya as he signed the papers and was very grateful that he hadn’t sprained his dominant wrist.

“You should be good to go,” Amanda said, flipping through the clipboard as Zhenya handed it back to her. “Have a good rest of the day, you too.”

“Have you eaten yet?” Sidney asked as she closed the door behind her. “I know it’s probably not the most romantic first date, but, the cafeteria here makes _really_ good burgers.”

“Never say no to good burger,” Zhenya said seriously, hopping down from the hospital bed. “Sounds like perfect first date to me.”

The burgers _were_ great and, Zhenya thought, as Sidney held his uninjured hand, stroking his thumb across Zhenya’s knuckles and breaking down into honks as he told the story of Sasha wooing Nicky, the great really was perfect, too.


End file.
